Update: You guys. You guys. So. A D.C. news crew went to report on the introduction of SketchFactor in a neighborhood labeled "sketchy." And while they were reporting, all their stuff got stolen. Because they were in a sketchy neighborhood where stuff gets stolen all the time.
But yeah, Valleywag and Sam Biddle, this app is totes racist or whatevs. We should all denounce it and show how super serial we are.
/update
When last we checked in on Valleywag, Gawker's tech industry weblog, the site was implicitly calling for Asians to be fired from Google in the name of "diversity" or some such. Now Valleywag's Sam Biddle has come out firmly against an app that allows women to report street harassment.
"Is there any way to keep white people from using computers," Biddle asks, before decrying the "racist app" destined to lead the field in "smartphone race-baiting." Wow! Harsh words for an app that, according to its creators, has "a reporting mechanism for racial profiling, harassment, low lighting, desolate areas, weird stuff, you name it."
It's odd. For years, all I've heard about is how terrible street harassment is. Women have to live with a constant stream of hooligans catcalling and whistling at them, inappropriately coming on to them. My understanding is that it's not just gross—though it's certainly that—it's also intimidating and more than a little scary. Sketchy behavior, in other words, makes people feel uncomfortable.
But the minute an app becomes available to help people combat this scourge and avoid such places, ZOMG BIGOTRY.
Biddle and Valleywag may be cool with street harassment; that's their prerogative. But I, for one, am glad that women now have a handy, mobile way to report sketchy behavior—a way for them to draw attention to problem areas where street harassment is out of hand, a tool that lets them know where crime is high, an app that lets them tell others where the sidewalks are poorly lit and where they are made to feel unsafe. So, SketchFactor's Allison McGuire and Daniel Herrington, I salute you. Good job, guys. You're making the world a better place. Don't let the naysayers get you down.